LEAFF 2024
COMPETITION
LEAFF’s prestigious Competition section is dedicated to discovering the brightest emerging talents in East Asian cinema. A distinguished jury—featuring Mariayah Kaderbhai, Jegy Ra, Neil Smith, and Joe Utichi—will preside over this year’s selection, ensuring the highest level of recognition for these visionary filmmakers. Ten exceptional films, each from directors who have made three features or fewer, have been handpicked by LEAFF’s expert programming team for this highly competitive strand. The Best Film in Competition will be revealed at the grand Closing Gala Award Ceremony, celebrating the future of East Asian cinema.
DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY
Dir. John Hsu | Taiwan | 2024 | 110 mins | 18
Friday October 25, 18:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
Being human is challenging, and being a ghost is not a cakewalk! A rookie ghost realises she has only 30 days left before fading away. Makoto, a ghost agent, invites her to team up with the washed-up ghost champion Catherine. Their mission is to revive the legend of haunting ghosts in The Lucky Hotel. In the afterlife, ghosts must be frightening enough to survive. The world after death is far from idyllic. "I don't want to be forgotten by this world!" becomes their final conviction. The ghosts about to sink without trace strive to become the scariest legends. They believe, "As long as you have the talent to scare, you will be seen!"
THE GREAT PHUKET
Dir. Liu Yaonan | China | 2024 | 97 mins | 18
Tuesday October 29, 18:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
Fourteen-year-old Li Xing lives in a district full of ruins and reconstruction. School brings him nothing but problems and his family is no help at all. One day, he finds an underground shelter where strange things happen.
LOCUST
Dir. KEFF | Taiwan, US, France, Qatar | 2024 | 133 mins | 18
Saturday November 2, 20:45
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
As the 2019 Hong Kong protests erupt across the strait, Zhong-Han, a silent twenty-nothing in Taiwan, leads a double life - working at a family restaurant by day, and running with a group of local gangsters by night. But when the ownership of the restaurant changes hands, it sets off an unexpected chain reaction that forces Zhong-Han to witness and confront the corrupt power games of his country.
LOVE LIES
Dir. Ho Miu Ki | Hong Kong, China | 2024 | 114 mins | 18
Saturday November 2, 15:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →ADDED SCREENING + Q&A with Actor Sandra Ng
Saturday November 2, 17:00
Soho Hotel Cinema Buy tickets →
A romantic comedy about a successful obstetrician-gynecologist who downloads a dating app for some harmless fun.
OUT OF THE SHADOW
Dir. Ricky Ko | Hong Kong, China | 2024 | 89 mins | 18
Thursday October 24, 21:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
Chu Po and her mother, Tao Kuen Ying, lived in seclusion in Tai O. Po was a good girl in front of
her mother, but she was an internet heroine who was named “Karate Girl” as a secret from Tao.
PIG THAT SURVIVED FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE
Dir. Hur Bum-wook | Korea | 2024 | 105 mins | 18
Thursday October 31, 18:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
Having survived foot-and-mouth disease only on will power, ‘Pig H’ swears to himself: He has to become human in order not to die as trash.
SUFFOCATING LOVE
Dir. Liao Ming-yi | Taiwan | 2024 | 102 mins | 18
Friday November 1, 18:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
A man believes he has found the love of his life when he meets a girl who seems to be the right kind of quirky. However, when her terrifyingly controlling personality eventually surfaces, he makes a desperate choice.
TATSUMI
Dir. Hiroshi Shoji | Japan | 2024 | 109 mins | 18
Friday October 25, 21:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
Tatsumi who serves as a “cleaner”; body disposal expert of the Yakuza is one day requested to “clean” Aoi, a sister of ex-girlfriend of Tatsumi who works as a car mechanic but is also suspected of drug theft by the Yakuza. Being asked by her sister Kyoko, Tatsumi can’t leave her to her fate. After he helped Aoi and sent her home, they found Kyoko dying. After losing her beloved elder sister who was her only family, Aoi goes out seeking payback.
TROUBLE GIRL
Dir. Chin Chia-hua | Taiwan | 2024 | 103 mins | 18
Monday October 28, 18:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
Xiao-xiao, who has mild ADHD, is the troublemaker in her class. But she has her own trouble - her mother Wei-fang and her teacher, Paul, have started a romantic relationship as a result of discussing her ADHD conditions.
STUNTMAN
Dir. Albert Leung, Herbert Leung | Hong Kong, China | 2024 | 113 mins | 15
Sunday October 27, 18:00
The Cinema at Selfridges Buy tickets →
A washed-up action choreographer, struggling to find his footing in a changing industry, risks everything to stage an epic comeback, but can he repair the damage to his relationship with his estranged daughter before it's too late?